Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- May 1, 1998
China's nukes target U.S.
CIA missile report contradicts Clinton
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A
new CIA report says that 13 of China's 18 long-range strategic missiles have single nuclear warheads aimed at U.S. cities.
According to an intelligence document sent to top policy-makers in advance of Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright's current visit to Beijing, the 13 CSS-4 missiles aimed at the United States -- with a range of more than 8,000 miles --indicate that China views the United States as its major strategic adversary.
That is contrary to the views of some senior Clinton administration officials, who are seeking to build a partnership with Beijing's rulers.
The remaining five CSS-4s, along with scores of other shorter-range nuclear missiles, are targeted on countries closer to China, including Russia, the officials said.
China has an array of strategic missiles that U.S. military and intelligence officials say are targeted on the United States or U.S. military forces deployed in Asia.
It could not be learned how the CIA found out about the missile targeting on U.S. cities, but details about the matter were contained in a top-secret report that was sent to senior U.S. policy-makers two weeks ago.
China also has some 25 CSS-3 missiles with ranges of more than 3,400 miles, and it is developing two new ICBMs: the 4,500-mile range DF-31 and an advanced ICBM that will be able to hit targets up to 7,000 miles away.
Other Chinese nuclear missiles include the 1,750-mile-range CSS-2 and the road-mobile CSS-5, which has a range of 1,100 miles.
The Clinton administration has tried twice unsuccessfully since 1996 to win Chinese approval of a mutual "de-targeting" agreement. A similar pact was established with Russia in 1994. Critics say it is largely symbolic because the missile guidance computers can be retargeted in minutes.
Instead of joining the "confidence-building" de-targeting measure, the Chinese government pressed the United States to adopt its policy of vowing not to be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict.
The CIA report also undercuts President Clinton's often-used phrase that there are no nuclear missiles targeted at the United States. In boasting of his administration's security record, he said in one speech in October 1996: "There is not a single, solitary nuclear missile pointed at an American child tonight. Not one. Not one. Not a single one."
"I guess this blows away Clinton's famous speech," Rep. Curt Weldon, Pennsylvania Republican and senior member of the House National Security Committee, said in an interview Thursday.
"He can no longer say what we knew all along, and his credibility is undermined by his own intelligence agency."
Mr. Weldon said the president "has used the bully pulpit to lull the American people into complacency about strategic threats in a way that has not been seen for decades."
A Defense Intelligence Agency report stated in 1996 that China was improving its CSS-4s and other long-range missiles with upgraded guidance systems and increased accuracy, propulsion and warheads, including the use of multiple warheads.
Richard Fisher, a defense analyst with the Heritage Foundation, said it is not surprising that Chinese nuclear missiles are targeted at the United States. "The Chinese have been targeting the United States for many years," Mr. Fisher said, noting that the People's Liberation Army and the communist leadership view the systems as "deterrence against the United States."
The United States is believed to have some of its nuclear force targeted against Chinese missile silos.
Mr. Fisher said the newer Chinese medium- and short-range nuclear missiles also are a threat and are believed to be "targeted on very important American and allied facilities in Asia."
"These constitute strategic systems for the PLA," he said. "And they are investing a great deal of effort in modernizing them."
China also is developing a new class of long-range cruise missiles and is working to make its shorter-range missiles more accurate, he said.
"As the administration is seeking to enter into wider and deeper cooperation in space and missiles with China, let's not forget that China has consistently refused to join regimes of civilized behavior in the strategic nuclear arena," Mr. Fisher said.
China is refusing to join the 29-nation Missile Technology Control Regime and also rebuffed U.S. proposals to de-target, he said.
James Hackett, a former U.S. government arms control official, said China's long-range missiles have the capability of reaching most of the United States "with the possible exception of Disney World" in Florida.
"They have produced great big nuclear warheads for those missiles," he said. "And the only feasible use is to destroy a big city. What they have built are city-busters that are targeted on major American cities."
Mrs. Albright told reporters in Beijing that the United States is reviewing whether to lift sanctions imposed on China for its 1989 military crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square. But she also played down differences and emphasized building a "strategic partnership," the Associated Press reported.
A Chinese general suggested to a former Pentagon official two years ago that the United States would not intervene in Beijing's dispute with Taiwan because Washington cares more about Los Angeles than Taipei, Taiwan's capital.
The remark was interpreted by the former official as a threat to use a nuclear missile attack against California, and he reported it to the president's national security adviser in 1996.Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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